1958 in Australia
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The following lists events that happened during 1958 in Australia.
| 1958 in Australia | |
|---|---|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor-General | William Slim |
| Prime minister | Robert Menzies |
| Population | 9,842,333 |
| Elections | Federal, VIC |
| |||||
| Decades: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| See also: | |||||
Incumbents
[edit]
- Monarch – Elizabeth II
- Governor-General – Sir William Slim
- Prime Minister – Robert Menzies
- Chief Justice – Sir Owen Dixon
State premiers
[edit]- Premier of New South Wales – Joseph Cahill
- Premier of Queensland – Frank Nicklin
- Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford IV
- Premier of Tasmania – Robert Cosgrove (until 26 August), then Eric Reece
- Premier of Victoria – Henry Bolte
- Premier of Western Australia – Albert Hawke
State governors
[edit]- Governor of New South Wales – Sir Eric Woodward
- Governor of Queensland – Sir Henry Abel Smith (from 18 March)
- Governor of South Australia – Sir Robert George
- Governor of Tasmania – Sir Ronald Cross, 1st Baronet (until 4 June)
- Governor of Victoria – Sir Dallas Brooks
- Governor of Western Australia – Sir Charles Gairdner
Events
[edit]January
[edit]- 14 January – Qantas Airways introduces a round-the-world air service from Australia to London.
- 20 January – The Royal Australian Naval College is moved back to Jervis Bay Territory from Flinders Naval Depot in Victoria.
- 28 January to 11 February – Harold Macmillan visits Australia, the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to do so while in office.
February
[edit]- 14 February to 7 March – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother visits Australia for the second time.
March
[edit]- 17 March – Victorian minister for education John Bloomfield discloses in state parliament that the name of Victoria's proposed second university will be Monash University in honour of General Sir John Monash.[1]
- 21 March – John McEwen replaces Arthur Fadden as federal leader of the Country Party.
- 24 March – The Cahill Expressway in Sydney opens, the first true freeway in Australia.
April
[edit]- 1 April – William John O'Meally becomes The last person flogged in Australia in Melbourne's Pentridge Prison.[2][3][4]
- 3 April – A cyclone destroys most of the town of Bowen in Queensland.[5][6]
- 10 April –
- Gary David Matthews, an 18-year-old gunner with the 111th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery appears in North Sydney Court of Petty Sessions charged with raping and assaulting with intent to murdering 39-year-old Victoria Joan Hawkins, wife of a British Army Major at Middle Head Army Barracks the previous day.[7][8] The charge of attempted murder is subsequently dismissed the following month when the solder is committed to stand trial.[9] Despite pleading not guilty to the charge, Matthews is found guilty in the Central Criminal Court of raping Hawkins and is sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.[10]
- 78-year-old former prime minister Sir Earle Page, a member of federal parliament since 1919 and now sitting on the backbench as the Member for Cowper, denies reports he intends to retire.[11]
- 11 April – 14-year-old student Margaret Eleanor Thomas is kidnapped by a man who broke into from Burwood Methodist Ladies College in Sydney.[12][13] The girl's body is found a short time later in Queen Elizabeth Park in Concord.[12][13] 29-year-old labourer John Charles Smith is charged with her murder.[14] He is also charged with having broken into a house in Burwood on 11 February 1958 and raping and inflicted grievous bodily harm on a 13-year-old girl.[15] Smith pleads not guilty to Thomas' murder, but after a four-day trial in June 1958, he is found guilty in the Central Criminal Court and is sentenced to penal servitude for life.[13]
- 15 April – Monash University is founded in Melbourne, Victoria.
May
[edit]- 11 May – Construction of Australia's largest man-made lake, Lake Eucumbene on the Eucumbene River in the Snowy Mountains, is completed.
- 20 May – Victorian premier Henry Bolte announces the appointment of twenty members to the interim council of Victoria's new Monash University with the appointees including Sir George Paton, Sir Leslie H. Martin and Archibald Glenn.[16] Alice Hoy is the only woman to be appointed to the council.[16][17]
- 31 May – Henry Bolte's Liberal government is re-elected in Victoria.[18]
June
[edit]- 15 June – Two 14-year-old Blacktown Boys High School students are found alive after becoming lost in the Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains and then spending a night in freezing conditions.[19] They are treated at Katoomba Hospital for frostbite, exposure and shock.[19]
July
[edit]- 19 July – The last tram service runs in Perth.
August
[edit]- 26 August – Robert Cosgrove retires as Premier of Tasmania, and is replaced by Eric Reece.
September
[edit]- 30 September – The ANZAC Day Act 1958 receives Royal Assent, making ANZAC Day (25 April) a national public holiday in Australia.
October
[edit]- 26 October – The wreckage of the Australian National Airways Avro 10 aircraft, VH-UMF Southern Cloud, is found. The aircraft had been missing since 1931.
November
[edit]- 22 November – A federal election is held. The Liberal-Country coalition led by Robert Menzies defeats H. V. Evatt's Australian Labor Party with 74 seats to 45 in the House of Representatives, a majority unprecedented since Federation, gained from preferences from the Democratic Labor Party.
December
[edit]- 21 December – A 16-year-old boy is rescued after falling into the sea from a 150 ft cliff at Torquay and washed into a small cave at the base of the cliff.[20] During the rescue, the boy falls from the stretcher and is washed out to see when two of the lifesavers fall into a hole, with one of the men swimming out to again retrieve the boy.[20] The boy was taken to Geelong Hospital and was discharged the following day suffering only abrasions and bruises.[20]
Unknown dates
[edit]- Aquila Shoes, a shoe manufacturing company, founded.
- Johnny O'Keefe has his first hit with Wild One.
- Radio station 2UE publishes the first Australian Top 40.
Science and technology
[edit]- 26 January – The HIFAR nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights goes critical for the first time.
Unknown dates
[edit]- Australian engineer Dr. David Warren of Melbourne's Aeronautical Research Laboratories constructs the world's first flight recorder ("black box").
Arts and literature
[edit]- 11 December – The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) opens in Sydney.
- William Edwin Pidgeon wins the Archibald Prize with his portrait of journalist Ray Walker
- Eric Smith wins the Blake Prize for Religious Art with his work The Moment Christ Died
- Randolph Stow wins the Miles Franklin Award for To the Islands
- Russel Ward releases The Australian Legend
Film
[edit]- 8 March - The film Bridge on the River Kwai was released in Sydney.
Television
[edit]- October - Autumn Affair, first television soap opera produced in Australia debuts
- 1 November – The first episode of Bandstand goes to air on TCN-9, hosted by Brian Henderson.
- 22 November – The 1958 Australian federal election is the first to be televised.
Sport
[edit]- Athletics
- 23 March – John Russell wins his second men's national marathon title, clocking 2:40:30 in Sydney
- 6 August – Herb Elliott sets a world record for the one-mile dash (3:54.5) at Morton Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
- Cricket
- New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield
- Football
- Brisbane Rugby League premiership: Brothers defeated Valleys 22-7
- New South Wales Rugby League premiership: St. George defeated Western Suburbs 20-9
- WAFL East Perth defeated East Fremantle 65 - 63
- South Australian National Football League premiership: won by Port Adelaide
- Victorian Football League premiership: Collingwood defeated Melbourne 82-64
- Golf
- Australian Open: won by Gary Player
- Horse racing
- Sir Blink wins the Caulfield Cup
- Yeman wins the Cox Plate
- Skyline wins the Golden Slipper
- Baystone wins the Melbourne Cup
- Motor racing
- The Australian Grand Prix was held at Bathurst and won by Lex Davison driving a Ferrari
- Tennis
- Australian Open men's singles: Ashley Cooper defeats Malcolm Anderson 7–5 6–3 6–4
- Australian Open women's singles: Angela Mortimer defeats Lorraine Coghlan 6–3 6–4
- Davis Cup: Australia is defeated by the United States 3–2 in the 1958 Davis Cup final
- Yachting
- Solo takes line honours and Siandra wins on handicap in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
Births
[edit]- 3 January – Kerry Armstrong, actress
- 5 January – Penny Whetton, climatologist (died 2019)
- 6 February – Simon Baker, race walker
- 10 February – Phil Weightman, politician
- 12 February – Grant McLennan, singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2006)[21]
- 14 February – Grant Thomas, Australian rules footballer
- 15 February – Steve Bredhauer, politician
- 22 February – Bill Feldman, politician
- 28 February – Neil Bennett, politician
- 16 March – Phillip Wilcher, pianist and composer
- 20 March – Phil Anderson, cyclist
- 29 March – Geoff Provest, politician
- 11 April – Mark Furner, politician
- 12 April
- Glenn Patching, swimmer
- Jim Madden, politician
- 19 April – Bill Byrne, politician
- 5 May – Robert DiPierdomenico, footballer and media personality
- 7 May – Alan John, composer
- 11 May – Peter Antonie, rower
- 11 May – Phil Smyth, basketball player
- 3 July – Gary Buckenara, Australian Rules footballer
- 6 July – Gary Humphries, politician
- 13 July – Richard Glover, journalist, author and radio personality
- 15 July – Phil Gould, rugby league identity
- 12 August – Grace Grace, politician
- 22 August – Jo-Ann Miller, politician
- 30 September – Rod Welford, politician
- October - Garry Pankhurst, former child actor
- 13 October – Jim Krakouer, Australian Rules footballer
- 22 October – Jan Jarratt, politician
- 3 November – Ted Radke, politician
- 15 November – Lewis Fitz-Gerald, actor and director
- 24 November – Alex Douglas, politician
- 26 November – Terry Rogers, politician
- 27 November – Linda Lavarch, politician
- 12 December – Monica Attard, journalist
- 31 December – Geoff Marsh, cricketer
Deaths
[edit]- 24 January – William Roy Hodgson, public servant (b. 1892)
- 8 March – Brian Swift, Australian cricketer, car accident (b. 1937)
- 8 April – Ethel Turner, writer (b. 1872)
- 15 May – Sir John Northmore, Western Australian Supreme Court Chief Justice (b. 1865)
- 4 August – Ethel Anderson, poet, author, and painter (b. 1883)
- 13 September – Russell Mockridge (b. 1928), cyclist
- 14 October – Douglas Mawson, polar explorer (b. 1882)
- 30 November – Hubert Wilkins, polar explorer (b. 1888)
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "New university to bear name of Monash". The Age. 19 March 2025. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Floggings carried out at Pentridge". The Age. 2 April 1958. p. 10. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Convicts flogged: Labor protest in Victorian parliament". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 April 1958. p. 6. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ Kelsey-Sugg, Anna (12 October 2021). "Pentridge prison raises the difficult question of how to treat a violent history". ABC News. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
In 1958, William John O'Meally became the last to endure a cat-o-nine tails flogging. He suffered 12 lashes as punishment for trying to escape.
- ^ "112 mph tempest hit Bowen: First full report". The Sydney Morning Herald. 4 April 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Bread rationed at Bowen, other food running out; 70 houses "disappear"; first pictures of damage caused by Bowen cyclone". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 April 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Camp attack: youth charged". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 April 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Major's wife battered at barracks". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 April 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Soldier for trial on rape count". The Sydney Morning Herald. 30 May 1958. p. 6. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Soldier guilty of rape charge: Gaoled for 12 years". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 June 1958. p. 6. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Page says he is not retiring". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 April 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Girl murdered after being kidnapped from Burwood College". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 April 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ a b c "Guilty of murder - men sentenced to life for killing girl". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 June 1958. p. 4. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Charged with murder of girl". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 April 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Two new charges". The Sun-Herald. 13 April 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Twenty named for interim council of new university". The Age. 21 May 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "These men will help guide destiny of Monash University". The Age. 21 May 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ "Bolte Government returned: majority increased". The Age. 2 June 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ a b "Lost boys' freezing night in Valley". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 June 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ a b c "Boy saved after fall from cliff". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 December 1958. p. 1. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
- ^ Garth Cartwright (10 May 2006). "Grant McLennan". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 July 2024. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
